Comparative study on structure and properties of ZnO thin films prepared by RF magnetron sputtering using pure metallic Zn target and ZnO ceramic target

In this work, ZnO thin films was deposited onto Si substrate by ablation of different sputtering targets (ZnO ceramic target and pure metallic Zn target) under different substrate temperatures from 300°C to 600°C with intervals of 100°C, and the properties of ZnO thin films were analysed. The results showed that ZnO thin films had the c-axis preferred orientation and it also presented optimised properties owing to the reduction of thin film defects at a substrate temperature of 400°C. By analysing data, it could also be seen that the performance of ZnO thin films fabricated using the ZnO ceramic target was better than that of ZnO thin films fabricated using the pure metallic Zn target. It was considered that the excellent properties of ZnO thin films fabricated using the ZnO ceramic target were attributed to the decrease in oxygen vacancies and the reduction of film defects.